Exodus 21
Buying a Servant
1 “Now these are the ordinances you shall set before them:†
2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his lord gave him a wife, and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her lord’s, and he shall go out by himself.
5 But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my lord, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
6 then his lord shall bring him to the judgment seat of God, and also to the door, or to the doorpost, and his lord shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
7 “If a man sells his daughter to be a domestic, she shall not go out as the maidservants do.
8 If she does not please her lord who betrothed her to himself, he shall let her go free. But he has no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
9 If he betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the right of daughters.
10 But if he takes another wife, he shall not deprive her of necessities, clothing, and marriage rights.
11 If he will not do these three things for her, she shall go out free, without paying money.
Responding to Violence
12 “He who so strikes a man that he dies shall surely be put to death.
13 However, if he did not willfully lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hands, I will appoint for you a place where the slayer may flee.†
14 But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar that he may die.
15 He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
16 He who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death.†
17 Whoever kidnaps one of the children of Israel and overcomes and sells him, and he is found with him, let him surely die.
18 “If two men revile one another, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed,
19 if the man rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for his loss of time and for his healing.
20 If a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, the lord shall not be punished; for he is his property.
22 “If two men fight and hurt a woman with child, and her child is born imperfectly formed, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 But if the child is perfectly formed, he shall give life for life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,†
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant and destroys it, he shall let them go free for their eye’s sake.
27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let them go free for their tooth’s sake.
Owners of Animals
28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, then the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall be acquitted.
29 But if the bull tended to gore in times past, and it was made known to its owner, but he did not keep it confined, and it killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
30 But if a sum of money is imposed on him, then he shall pay the amount imposed so as to redeem his life.
31 If a bull gores a son or daughter, it shall be done to him according to this ordinance.
32 If a bull gores a male or female servant, he shall pay their lord thirty shekels of silver, and the bull shall be stoned.
33 “If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his.
35 If any man’s bull gores his neighbor’s bull, and it dies, they shall sell the live bull and divide the money; and the dead bull they shall also divide.
36 But if the bull was known to gore in times past, and its owner did not keep it confined, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Stolen Property
37 “Now if a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Psalms 62
1 A psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judea. †
2 O God, my God, I rise early to be with You; My soul thirsts for You. How often my flesh thirsts for You In a desolate, impassable, and waterless land.
3 So in the holy place I appear before You, To see Your power and Your glory.
4 Because Your mercy is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
5 Thus I will bless You in my life; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
6 May my soul be filled, as if with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall sing praise to You with lips filled with rejoicing.
7 If I remembered You on my bed, I meditated on You at daybreak;
8 For You are my helper, And in the shelter of Your wings I will greatly rejoice.
9 My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand takes hold of me.
10 But they seek for my soul in vain; They shall go into the lowest parts of the earth.
11 They shall be given over to the edge of the sword; They shall be a portion for foxes.
12 But the king shall be glad in God; All who swear by Him shall be praised, For the mouth that speaks unrighteous things is stopped.
Proverbs of Solomon 12
26 The hand of the chosen shall prevail easily, But the deceitful shall be for captivity.
27 A fearful word troubles the heart of a righteous man, But a good message makes him glad.
28 A righteous arbiter shall be his own friend, But the decisions of the ungodly are unreasonable.
29 Evil things shall pursue sinners, And the way of the ungodly will lead them astray.
30 A deceitful man will not gain his prey, But a pure man is a precious possession.
31 In the ways of righteousness there is life, But the ways of remembering wrongs are unto death.†
Mark 12
The Wicked Vinedressers
1 Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.†
2 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.
3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
4 Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.
5 And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.
6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
9 “Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.
10 Have you not even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.
11 This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? ”
12 And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.
Taxes to Caesar
13 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.†
14 When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?
15 Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it. ”
16 So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
17 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him.
Jesus Explains the Resurrection
18 Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying:†
19 “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
20 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring.
21 And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise.
22 So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also.
23 Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?
25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
26 But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ?
27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.”
Father I gained much from your lesson on not remembering wrongs today. I have been praying for some help with a memory and I believe He heard me and answered my prayer today.
Thank you. God bless.
The same scripture (Prov. 12:26-31) spoke powerfully to me. I had recently gone to confession over this because I had previously repented of it, but came to realize I had not fully done so. It came to my attention because I realized I was acting out that sin, and it disgusted me. I will continue to bring it before the Holy Mother that she will pray that I be emptied and washed clean of this sin; and before the Lord, that He may cleanse me of it most fully.